Boca company uses faces, even body heat to deter hackers

From the identity theft epicenter — South Florida — comes a possible solution to prevent hacking and information stealing.

Using facial recognition and even body heat, a Boca Raton software company says it has come up with a better way to protect online identities and control access to computer systems.

The new firm, Identify Security Software, seeks to eliminate the use of passwords, which can be vulnerable to theft, said Identify's president and chief operating officer, Andre Limarenko. Instead, it has come up with trademarked IdentifyMe software to control who can get into a computer system, using facial recognition, thermal sensing, proximity and GPS technologies.

"Our proactive solution will make the computer technology prowess of hackers irrelevant and bring security to cyberspace once and for all," he said.

With the company's new software, tiny cameras would be hooked up to computers to recognize approved users. Their unique personal characteristics would have already been noted by the computer, Limarenko said. The new software would not only "spot" faces, but recognize other characteristics such as body temperature or blood pressure.

"It senses who you are," Limarenko said.

Strangers would be prevented from gaining access because the software wouldn't recognize them, he said.

The new company is in its infancy, and, initially, Identify executives want to sell security packages to large companies and government agencies. The company would then try to make it more affordable for individual consumers, Limarenko said.

He declined to give details of the company's finances, other than to say it is seeking venture capital like other new software companies.

The company's biometric-detection software may seem like an idea out of a science fiction novel, but it is the wave of the future, Limarenko said.

Controlling online access is a growing trend as companies and governments seek to better protect themselves from hacking and information theft, said Boca Raton security consultant Michael Scheidell, who is managing director of Security Privateers.

Some firms, for example, already have employees use their thumb prints as part of the process to gain access to work information, he said. "Passwords are usually just one part of trying to identify who you are," Scheidell said.

Identify Security Software goes a step farther and uses more than one biometric reading to help prevent theft, Scheidell said.

The system even shuts down when users seem upset, which may be a sign that they are being coerced into turning over information, Limarenko said.

The software also controls times and places the computerized information can be seen, eliminating, for example, midnight information heists.

The restrictions could have prevented National Security Agency consultant Edward Snowden from gaining access and then leaking classified documents about the government's surveillance program, Limarenko suggested.

By the same token, the government couldn't secretly obtain emails and other information if computer systems more rigorously denied access, he said.